Strawberry Shortcake Saves the Day!

My daughter, Hannah, age 4, was playing with her little friend, Avery. Avery is about 8 months younger than Hannah and is just learning how to play, and sometimes has a little trouble. After playing at Avery's house, Hannah told me this is what happened:

Avery: "I'm not going to be your friend anymore! You have to go home!" (CLASSIC relational aggression)

Hannah: "Avery, on Strawberry Shortcake, they say you have to 'talk it out' when you are angry. If I go, then you won't have any friends to play with and we'll both be sad. How about we 'talk it out' instead?"

Avery: (after awhile) "okay, let's talk it out"

And they did! And they made up, and played nicely together for the next hour.

Okay, so we talk A LOT about relational aggression in our family (comes with the terroritory of doing research on the subject for the last decade), so I feel my kids are pretty well versed in this topic. But I LOVED how Hannah used the phrase "talk it out" after watching an episode of Strawberry Shortcake. I was a bit wary of this show, mostly cause I was so mad that they changed the way Strawberry Shortcake looked.....before she was this scrappy little red head, now she is yet one more example of a very thin, beautiful, character....BLAH. However, there are some really great messages in this program, and it definitely came out in this case.

I was very proud of how Hannah dealt with the situation and I think it showed a lot of maturity for her age (that she often lacks in sooo many other situations!) Hooray for positive media!!!!!

A recent pic of Hannah at her dance recital. How I love this little girl! :)

My famous cousin!

Check out my very famous cousin, Peter, in this Revlon commercial! It stars Olivia Wilde (13 from House!) and Peter is the guy who dances with her! Very cool!

How chocolate clusters helped me love the movie Waterworld

Today my daughter, Hannah, and I made one of our very favorite treats: Chocolate clusters. They are no-bake cookies, extremely easy, and are delish!

Every time I make them I think of the movie Waterworld, with Kevin Costner. I am probably one of the only people on the entire planet who thought this movie was really good. I was a teenager when it came out, and I remember making chocolate clusters that day, putting them in the freezer, and then eating like 10 of them throughout the course of the movie. Sooooooooo yummy! I blame it on classical conditioning: I have definitely paired the movie with these treats, and now remember it with fondness!

You know the treats must be good if they helped me to like this particular film! Here is the recipe in case you want to try it out.

Ingredients
1/3 c butter
15 large marshmallows
1 bag of chocolate chips
1tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c of coconut
1 1/2 c of oats
1/4 c water

melt butter in large pot on medium heat. When melted, stir in marshmallows and mix until smooth. Add chocolate chips and stir until melted. Add vanilla, coconut, oats, and water and stir until mixed. Spoon into balls onto a foil covered cookie sheet and put in fridge. Enjoy!

The Avengers and why Utah County is the worst place ever to see a film

After some serious peer pressure, my friends talked me into going to see the Avengers. Which if you know anything about me, is seriously not my type of movie. But everyone I had talked to had said it was sooooo good, so I thought, fine. It's been awhile since I've been to the theater so here are some thoughts I had.

1. $9 a ticket to see a movie???? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!? This is highway robbery.

2. $7 for popcorn!?!? See above comment. This has got to be marked up at least 10,000%.

3. Because of 1 and 2, I am only going to see movies at our local Water Gardens theater. $3 for tickets, $3 for a large popcorn...definitely worth the wait.

4. Do not bring your baby to the movie theater. Especially if it is to a packed out movie theater, on a late Friday night. The same goes for 2 year-olds who run around and yell the entire time. I would guess that Utah County has the biggest offenders of this annoying and disrespectful practice. It's not fair to your kids and it's not fair to everyone else in the audience. I didn't spent $25 on a babysitter so I could listen to your kids ruin the movie for me.

5. The Avengers is not appropriate for your 5 year old. Or your 6 year old. Or your 7 year old. It's rated PG-13 for a reason.  I could not believe the number of really young kids in the theater! The movie is FULLLLLL of violence....what are these parents thinking?

6. The Avengers was just okay for me. Honestly, I was kind of bored at the end. I mean, just how long can you extend one battle scene? Too much action, and WAY too little plot.  However, there were some really funny moments, that made up for a lot. Robert Dowey Jr. was the savior of that film...hilarious! It almost makes me want to go see Iron Man.

7. Snuggling at the movie theater with your husband and without three kids hanging off of you....worth sitting through all the above! :)

Media = death?????

Weird conversation the other night!

My husband was watching some random show last night. Suddenly he turns to me, and says, "What do you want to do with your body when you die?"

I turn to look what's on his screen and it is somebody spreading his wife's ashes in the ocean.

So, then we have like a 30 minute, rather morbid conversation, about what we want our funerals to be like, and what we want to happen.


I didn't want too post too morbid of a picture, so chose a cute one of Jack Skellington....how cute is this guy?



















Me, I'm very traditional, happy to be buried in Spanish Fork cemetery. Paul, on the other hand, just wants to go the very cheapest route. What's the point of spending anywhere from $6000-$10,000 on a funeral? He decided that he wants to be cremated, and I should spread half of his ashes in Ireland (where he was born), and the other half in the center of Old Trafford (where Manchester United play....though I'm pretty sure if I tried this, I would get arrested!). And some on his dad's grave so he can haunt him in the after life! :) Okay, I think he was teasing about most of that, but I thought it was a really interesting conversation to be had, all spurred on by.....the media!

I love my phone!

I went shopping at the mall today. Before I got to the checkout at the Children's Place, I thought I would check online on my phone to see if I could find a coupon. It took like 2 minutes and BOOM, 15% off! I tried the same trick at Bath and Body Works, and found a coupon for $10 off my purchase! One of the many reasons why I love my phone!!

Disney channel saves lives!

Did you hear about this on the news? A 6-year-old girl in Sacramento saved her best friend’s life by performing the Heimlich maneuver earlier this week, something she learned from watching a Disney Channel TV show. “She was choking and then I helped her,” Beanie told ABC News. “I asked if I saved her life and she said, Yeah, you did.” However, the question remains, how exactly did a 6-year-old know how to do the Heimlich? “I saw it on A.N.T. Farm,” Beanie said. “I asked my mom, Can people really do that? And she said, Yeah.” Chalk one up for the Disney Channel!!

John Adams

My husband and I are both media buffs, so we always like to have a show that we watch together. It's probably not the best use of spousal time, but sometimes after a long day of work or taking care of three crazy kids, it's about the only thing we have energy for! We just finished watching The West Wing through (2nd time now!) and are looking for another show. In the meantime, we are watching "John Adams". This is a miniseries that is a few years old, obviously about our 2nd president of the United States. It is EXCELLENT! I'm not really a history buff at all, but I'm loving this show. I feel like I'm learning so much about John Adams himself, but also about the birthplace of our nation. We just watched the episode where they draft the declaration of independence, and it was thrilling (never thought I'd say that!) Besides being informative, it is just very well done, and I would highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, it's only a few episodes long. So, does anyone have any ideas for shows that my husband and I could watch together? Right now we are considering Friday Night Lights cause we've heard good things about that.....but I'm not going to lie: Football and Texas are not really two of my favorite things! (no offense to all you lovely Texans out there!)